TEEN PLEADS INNOCENT IN HIGHWAY SHOOTINGS

Teen pleads innocentin highway shootings
BROWNSTOWN, Ind. -- Zachariah Blanton, above, of Gaston, Ind., is led into the Jackson County Courthouse in Brownstown, Ind., by deputy sheriffs. The teenager, accused of killing a man and wounding another in a series of highway shootings, had argued with relatives during a hunting trip and drove off in anger shortly before the attacks, a prosecutor said Wednesday. Blanton, 17, pleaded innocent Wednesday to charges of murder, attempted murder and three counts of criminal recklessness. He stared at the sidewalk as officers led him into the Jackson County Courthouse, where Circuit Judge William Vance set a tentative Dec. 13 trial date. Blanton could face life in prison without parole.
Chicago OKs ordinanceordering 'living wage' pay
CHICAGO -- Brushing aside warnings from Wal-Mart, the city council approved an ordinance Wednesday that makes Chicago the biggest city in the nation to require big-box retailers to pay a "living wage." "It's trying to get the largest companies in America to pay decent wages," said Alderman Toni Preckwinkle. The ordinance passed 35-14 after three hours of impassioned debate. The measure requires mega-retailers with over $1 billion in annual sales and stores of at least 90,000 square feet to pay workers at least $10 an hour in wages plus $3 in fringe benefits by mid-2010. The current minimum wage in Illinois is $6.50 an hour and the federal minimum is $5.15. Mayor Richard M. Daley and others warned the living wage proposal would drive jobs and desperately needed development from some of the city's poorest neighborhoods and lead giants like Wal-Mart to abandon the city.
Yates found innocentby reason of insanity
HOUSTON -- In a dramatic turnaround from her first murder trial, Andrea Yates was found innocent by reason of insanity Wednesday in the drowning of her children in the bathtub. The 42-year-old woman will be committed to a state mental hospital and held until she is no longer deemed a threat. If she had been convicted of murder, she would have been sentenced to life in prison. Yates stared wide-eyed as the verdict was read, then bowed her head and wept quietly. Her relatives also shed tears, and the children's father, Rusty Yates, muttered, "Wow!" as he, too, cried. Four years ago, another jury convicted Yates of murder, rejecting claims that she was so psychotic she thought she was saving her the souls of her five children by killing them. An appeals court overturned the convictions because of erroneous testimony from a prosecution witness. Yates' chief attorney, George Parnham, called the verdict this time a "watershed event in the treatment of mental illness."
Years ago, warning cameon Big Dig tunnels
BOSTON -- Seven years before falling concrete crushed a motorist to death inside one of Boston's Big Dig tunnels, a safety officer warned that the bolts could not possibly hold the heavy ceiling panels, according to a bluntly worded memo that came to light Wednesday. John Keaveney wrote the memo in 1999 to one of his superiors at contractor Modern Continental Construction Co., saying he could not "comprehend how this structure can withhold the test of time."
Professor invents stickerto tell if fruit is ripe
TUCSON, Ariz. -- A University of Arizona professor has invented a sticker that can tell consumers if a fruit or vegetable is ripe. The stickers will be available to growers next year and should make their way to supermarkets within two to three years, said Mark Riley, a UA assistant professor of agricultural and biosystems engineering. He said growers and grocers throw out thousands of bushels of fruit each year because it ripened faster than it could get to market or be sold. With no simple way to tell whether fruit that looks good on the outside will taste good on the inside, consumers often buy peaches, pears and melons they can't eat because they're under-ripe or overripe.
Associated Press